On the afternoon of November 12, the National Assembly listened to the submission and report on the review of the adjustment of the investment policy for the Long Thanh International Airport project (Long Thanh airport) in Resolution No. 94/2015/QH13 of the National Assembly.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that at the time of submitting the project investment policy for approval, due to difficulties in determining investment capital, the National Assembly decided that phase 1 of the project would only invest in "runway number 1" in the northern region.
In case Long Thanh airport has to temporarily stop operating due to an incident on "runway 1", Tan Son Nhat airport will play a supporting role for Long Thanh.
During the implementation of phase 1, the Government realized that the immediate construction of "runway number 3" 400m north of "runway number 1" under investment right in phase 1 would bring many benefits.
According to the plan, Tan Son Nhat airport serves 50 million passengers/year; currently it has served over 41 million passengers/year. It is expected that by 2030, the demand for air transport in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces will be about 71 million passengers/year.
In case Long Thanh airport's "runway 1" has a problem, flights will have to be transferred to Tan Son Nhat. At that time, Tan Son Nhat will be overloaded, planes will have to wait in the air, causing additional costs and affecting the environment.
Therefore, the immediate construction of "runway number 3" will meet the needs of exploiting phase 1 of Long Thanh airport when "runway number 1" has an incident, without having to switch to Tan Son Nhat.
The immediate construction of "runway number 3" will not interrupt the operation of Long Thanh airport due to infrastructure connections and the impact of dust during construction.
Currently, "runway 3" has been leveled to the design elevation, the investment cost for completion is low, only about 3,304 billion VND and does not exceed the total investment of component project 3 of 99,019 billion VND but still contributes to increasing the capacity and operational efficiency of the port.
Investing in "runway number 3" in phase 1 has many advantages such as being in line with approved planning.
Immediate implementation not only improves investment efficiency but also contributes to perfecting transport infrastructure, reducing logistics costs, enhancing economic competitiveness, and serving the task of ensuring national defense and security.
Regarding the implementation time of phase 1, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that the preparation and investment progress for "runway number 3" will take about 24 months, and after being approved by the National Assembly, it will be completed by the end of 2026.
Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that the Government proposed that the National Assembly consider adjusting phase 1: Investing in the construction of 2 runways in the North and 1 passenger terminal along with synchronous auxiliary items with a capacity of 25 million passengers/year, 1.2 million tons of cargo/year; completed and put into operation by the end of 2026 at the latest.
